Martin and Seibert looks to inspire others

January 26, 2014

MARTINSBURG - The leaders of the law firm of Martin and Seibert LC hope that their and their employees' charitable donations will inspire other law firms, both local and throughout the state, to be more generous toward worthy causes.

Charity has been a core value of the law firm since it was founded in Martinsburg in 1908 by Clarence E. Martin, according to Clarence E. "CEM" Martin III, the founder's grandson and the firm's senior shareholder.

"It's always been a part of what we do here," he said during a recent interview. "We've opened an opportunity for our employees to step forward."

About three years ago, Martin and Seibert started a program where employees could wear blue jeans to work, Walter M. Jones III, managing shareholder, said.

"That was inconsistent with our business model," he said, smiling. "So we started Blue Jeans Friday. Employees could wear blue jeans to the office every Friday, but they had to pay at least $1 to a charity. That's how it got started. We started identifying a different charity every week."

Martin and Jones then match the employees' donations dollar for dollar.

Through 2013, Blue Jeans Fridays has raised $41,241.77 for mainly local charities. Last year, the program raised $10,336.21, which was donated to more than 40 different charitable organizations as well as individual families.

"The employees love it and they have unique ideas about which charities to dedicate the donations to," Jones said. "They know when someone needs help. We've purchased mattresses, furniture, clothing and toys. We've made huge toy donations. We believe no child should go without toys. We've adopted families for Christmas to donate toys to."

Martin emphasized that Blue Jeans Fridays is the employees' program.

"We are very proud of our employees," he said. "It speaks volumes to the character and quality of people we have working here."

In addition to the Blue Jeans Fridays program, Martin and Seibert also has collected food for local food banks and collected money to buy food wholesale to be donated to local food pantries.

In December, at the suggestion of Nikki Carper, chief operating officer, the firm's sharefholders purchased a steer, had it butchered and gave 1,100 pounds of meat to CCAP/Loaves and Fishes. This was in response to a special need.